Flyfish Fanatic

A while back I wrote a post about Community lake (Link)

Here is the response I got From The Minister of Tourism of BC.

Dear Mr. Passek:

Thank you for your email of May 15, 2008, addressed to the Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier, and me, regarding the removal of dead trees within the Community Lake Recreation Site as a result of the current mountain pine beetle infestation in the interior of the province. Since recreation sites and trails are the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, I will respond on behalf of Premier Campbell.

Large scale salvage operations to harvest mountain pine beetle damaged timber are ongoing in the Kamloops area. When dead and dying trees are identified in recreation sites, they are removed to protect public safety and prevent further spread of the disease within the site.

Mitigation efforts in the Community Lake Recreation Site were conducted in consultation with local fishing groups in the area. Operations were carried out last fall to avoid impacting the camping season and to minimize soil disturbance. Signage and picnic tables were moved and stacked a safe distance away from burning piles.

The spring thaw this year was somewhat late and did not occur until near the middle of May. As a result, the site was very wet when campers began visiting the site for the May long weekend. Unfortunately, the saturated soils were very vulnerable to vehicle traffic and significant rutting occurred on the in-site roads and camping sites. This damage to the site was caused by unusually wet ground and normal recreation use, not the logging operations to remove damaged timber.

The Kamloops Recreation District will be conducting clean-up efforts at the Community Lake Recreation Site once the ground has dried up sufficiently to allow for machinery and work crews to access the site without causing further damage to the soil. I understand that the work is anticipated to begin in early June, weather permitting.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Stanley B. Hagen

Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts

Looks like they are going to fix up the mess, That is GREAT.

I will be going up in the next few weeks, I will post Pictures of the “Cleanup” Effort soon

Rick Passek ( The Flyfish Fanatic™)

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